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Four Days Post-Storm, Piles Remained

Four days after snowstorm Nemo, the fog was gone, the sun shone brightly, and streets pock-marked with snow-pack and pot-holes finally cleared to pavement, but left behind were huge snow piles on town greens and many local roads narrowed significantly by encroaching snow banks.

The storm's 2½ feet of snow by noon on Feb. 9 had hardened to an icy mass. Normal town snow-removal equipment proved unequal to the task of removing the dense icy snow mass quickly. Front-end loaders had to be found and services contracted to clear the first few passes to clear one lane along local roads.

Residents whose driveways were left uncleared for days learned from their plowing contractors that the pick-up mounted plow equipment used after most storms was unequal to the snow removal task this time. Equipment broke down. Front-end loaders for some again proved the only vehicle to do the job.

Many residents were stuck inside, unable to drive along impassable snow-filled streets, from late Feb. 8 through late Feb. 10 or even the morning of Feb. 11. Even then, most roads were only widened enough to allow one lane of traffic to pass. Without sufficiently cleared roads, school buses couldn't safely drive through neighborhoods for their pick-ups and students did not have cleared paths to walk to their bus stops.

For Old Saybrook and Westbrook, schools remained closed on Feb. 11 and 12 to allow public works crews and town contractors to widen more streets and clear away excess snow banks at intersections. By Feb. 13, streets were cleared enough of snow for the buses to roll.

With the Federal Emergency Management Agency agreeing with Gov. Dannel Malloy that Storm Nemo deserves a federal emergency declaration, storm response costs of town governments are now reimburseable. Up to 75 percent of storm costs the town incurs in a 48 hour period the town designates, will be eligible for FEMA reimbursement.

Storm and Calendar

Unlike some other shoreline towns, the Old Saybrook school district lost fewer days to Storm Sandy and to Storm Nemo than did other districts. The district was closed for three days due to Sandy; two of those three days have already been made up by substituting student instruction days for two staff development days that were in the calendar.

As result, the district at press time needed to find a way to make up just four more student instructional days. According to Interim Superintendent Heston Sutman, the plan is to add those days onto the end of the student instructional year.

The two lost staff professional development days also will be made up. One was already made up on the Martin Luther King Birthday school holiday and the other will be made up after the last student instructional day.

Westbrook schools' schedules were still being revised at press time.